Why is it bad to touch a doll's face?

Oil of the skin can rub the face-up off or smudge it.

 

Fear of scratching an expensive faceup is one reason and it is true normal body oils found on fingertips can smudge a faceup that isn't well sealed. But even if the faceup is well sealed, body oil also attracts dirt and dust in the air, so a few fingerprints can become unattractive stains.
Washing hands before touching will help, but only if you are touching your own dolls.

It is very impolite to touch another person's doll's face - that is the true no-no.

 

Because if I touch their faces to much they'll become dirty and I'm to scared to clean them with magic erasers (just water doesn't always clean them well enough).

 

I also believe if you touch it too much, you will eventually wear away the sealant no matter how well sealed it is.

 

I just don't really mess with my BJD much. I only have one at the moment. I would never touch another person's doll at all anywhere face or otherwise. I didn't realize that face up could rub off. It certainly never has on my doll, but I really don't do much with her. I have her displayed and I like here there where she is. I guess you can touch your doll as much as you want as long as you can deal with the dirt, cleaning and possible face up smudges.

 

I can confirm this, because on both of my white skin dolls the bottom of their chins their face-ups have been damaged a little. The MSC has worn away a little and it has become discoloured. This was due to a habbit of mine of moving their heads by holding the top of their heads and the bottom of their chin.

 

Yeah, pretty much what everyone said. Even changing dolls (clothing rubbing over areas) can wear down faceups.

On the other hand, if you're moderately careful, the faceups will last a long time. I've had dolls since 2004 and haven't had to renew a faceup yet. But I do try and not put my hands all over their faces and use face protectors when I'm traveling with them.

 

One of my Volks boys has superfine scratches in the face sealant from his wig hairs, because I am constantly brushing his hair out of his eyes. The scratches make his face look shiny. The faceup itself seems to be fine, but seeing the scratches is a little unnerving. He's a limited, so I'd hate to have to have him redone. He's from 2006.

Linda S.
galatia9

 

If you're not afraid to reseal him and reapply gloss, that would be the best way, but you might not want to if you don't have any experience with faceupping or are afraid to make any slight changes to his faceup (like the gloss). If you're brushing his hair constantly, you might want to get a softer bristled tooth brush instead, and brush only very lightly.

 

@Kotone: It's strange, because he is the only one of my BJDs who has this problem. The scratches are from his hair, not from any brush. I do not do faceups, so I wouldn't want to risk trying to spray him or gloss him myself. I could send him off to someone to do that, but don't see the need at the moment. He has extensive blushing from Volks, but none of it is missing.

I was trying to warn the OP about possible hazards of touching her dolls' faces.

Linda S.
galatia9

 

No matter how delicate you are, there can always be an accident. And because people spend fortunes on faceups, its a matter of basic respect to someone's work not to risk any damage. I find this to be a fair enough reason to avoid touching.

 

Well, would you like it if someone was touching your face? I think not! Same applies to dollies ^-^

 

Everything has pretty much been said already, and in addition to that, if you touch your doll's face or any other sealed area while wearing nailpolish there is a fair risk your doll will end up with traces of nailpolish on it (especially if you don't bother with putting a top coat on your nailsbut even then the polich can chip off).

@CherryBlossom: I can tell you with confidence that (gently) using a wet magic sponge WITHOUT any other cleaning agent will not take your doll's faceup off, I've cleaned my dolls' faces with magic sponge a lot, even to rub off red marks that my doll's glasses left on his nose, and all it does is take those smudges off. In order remove the sealant you really need something like nailpolish remover or aceton, I don't think even normal hand soap is strong enough to take off the sealant but considering that has oils in it to keep your hands soft I wouldn't try it on a faceup, just water works wonders^^.

 

At least, you don't grab other people for their faces. Dollies or human - it's just still not polite^^"""

 

Okay so here's another question that kinda goes along this same line as this question. I know oils from our hands can smudge a dolls face up and in general oils are bad for dolls. I know some doll owners go so far as to not touch their dolls without gloves on. So here's my question, what effect do oils have on the dolls that causes damage, besides smudging face ups?

 

... Also - the doll might bite you!

Teddy
(in a silly mood!)

 

Varoness, oil is harmful to resin and can leave behind stains. I found this online:


Q: What will oil based products do to my doll?
A: Honestly ..? With plain ol' oils not much at all - however its the combinations of oil + acid, or oil + solvent, oil + pigment, and
the multiple types of oils, synthetic vs organic, pure vs mixed. Most resin is porous and the use of some oil-based products can
stain and unevenly discolour your doll - only way to fix it is to sand off - its a risk thats not realy worth taking unless you are
more familiar with the oil type and why exactly you need to use it...
(source: http://www.doodlesbackpack.com/BJD/Info_Page/Resin_MSC_Cleaning.html)


And this:
Oils eat away and stain plastic and resin. It’s simply not good for any doll’s surface.
(source: http://fyeahbjdmods.tumblr.com/post/8877701918/face-up-materials-whats-safe-and-whats-deadly)

 

Why would you even want to touch a doll's face? You wouldn't touch the surface of a painting, would you?

I have the same problem that karla-chan mentioned before. My first BJD has a discolored area on his chin, from moving his head by holding the chin and the top of his head. This bugs me to no end, although it doesn't look all that bad and doesn't show in photos at all.

And I *always* wash and dry my hands thoroughly before touching my dolls (or anyone else's dolls after asking permission of course) at all. So no matter how careful you are or how clean your hands are, there's still the chance that you get it stained somehow.

 

i did did not know this but I guess I'd get upset if someone touched my girl's face without asking. Heck....I don't want anyone touching my girl...LOL. MY 19yr old was looking at my doll and I couldn't take my eyes off of her. Then I took my girl back very carefully.